Hey guys, writing this with a sense of guilt due to the extended amount of time since my last post. I told myself I wouldn't let that happen, but life gets in the way of plans sometimes as we all know. However, the usual feeling of over-load and pressure one generally feels when piling their schedule to the max and leaving little free time has not set in on me lately. And if there were ever a time for me to feel overwhelmed with all the things I need to do on a daily basis - it would be now.
I am experiencing a period of acquiring information to become more educated and well-rounded in many areas of my life, as well as going through some drastic life-style changes that directly effect my day-to-day life. As readers already know, transitioning into a plant-based diet and giving up alcohol are the main two things I am referring to. But I am also exercising regularly again, which as we all know takes a rather drastic change in mindset and the actual execution part of it takes time and planning. On top of those 3 things, I have also been spending significant amounts of time educating myself on Veganism and how to optimize what we put into our bodies. I am also continuously learning and becoming closer to mastering a second language (spanish), and last but certainly not least - continuing to invest more time into mastering poker than all of these other things combined.
Today was pretty diverse and I spent at least 1 hour on every activity/task listed above. I had an extremely productive day by my standards, and it's only fitting that I am sneaking in an over-due blog post at 11:25 PM with a 7 AM coaching session waiting on me in less than 8 hours. I was, and still am, in the zone today. I spent 2 hours doing an exercise that involved me writing out in great detail what it takes to go from A-Z on the poker playing ability scale. Assuming A is a player who has never played, and I am Z. While doing this, I realized that I need to know the in's and out's of my craft better than I currently do. I am very capable of teaching everything necessary to become a winner in an organized, curriculum style fashion, but I have a lot of room for improvement. I had to be honest with myself today, and that's not always easy for everyone - especially poker players (haha).
After listing 75 things that I deem to be imperative knowledge to possess if you desire to be a winning professional at the games I play, I stopped listing things and started to take strides in the direction of furthering my own knowledge of the things I was adding to the list. I bought a couple books, did some google-searching, asked some friends for suggestions and guidance, and ended up reading for about 5 hours today. I signed up for a training site that I thought could help me become a better coach - the time and money investment wasn't even about becoming a better player, I did it with intentions of being able to more efficiently teach the game. In a way, I had a light bulb go off in my head and had a lot of motivation and energy to start a snowball of learning.
After a long day of grinding, I had an Intro session scheduled with a new client at 9pm this evening. For the past several weeks I have been using the same list of Intro Topics for each new client that comes to me for coaching, and it has worked out great and the reviews have been astoundingly positive - but I always knew there was room for improvement. After reading several hours of a couple different books, watching some video content, browsing training websites, coaching my Vegan friend who is here at my house by reviewing his hand histories and spending several hours making a list of all the things I deem necessary to being a pro - I realized that my Intro Topics list needed some work, the format of it and the order all needed to be optimized. So I had 30 minutes to spare between reviewing hand histories with Marcel (my vegan friend) and the 9pm Intro session I had scheduled, and I used that time to alter and optimize the Intro Topics. It's amazing how many small details and seemingly useless bits of information comprise a large edge at a poker table. After playing full-time for nearly 9 years, I have never taken the time to put all my knowledge down on paper. It's an exhausting task that, for well-educated players, takes a lot of time. To give you an idea, after spending about 3 hours thinking and writing down things in a list of no significant order, I feel like I am about 20% of the way done covering everything that I already know, or need to know. The list is very, very long - and I am aiming to put it all into curriculum form for the betterment of me and all my students - again, something I have never attempted before. If my coach did this, it would take him weeks I imagine and the final product would be worth ten's of thousands of dollars - or more than anyone would think it's worth. But a top-level poker education that can earn you six-figures per year with would be worth every penny in a theoretical sense. And that's exactly what I am aiming to do - create a curriculum that represents the foundation to a training program which enables people to earn consistent incomes playing poker and offer valuable insight to health and happiness - all while continuing to learn and grow as both a person and poker player.
That paragraph is too long for my liking, but being short-winded isn't my strong suit. I am going to change directions here and just talk about current affairs in my life for a bit before closing out with some pictures.
First off, my friends, family, girlfriend and dog are all healthy, happy and progressing in their own unique ways. My parents are doing great, as is my sister and her family. My nearly 10 year old dog has never been happier and brings me so much joy that is hard to put into words. My girlfriend continues to make me think about getting married, and that's no easy task. I met her mom for the first time a few days ago when she came to visit. We got to enjoy a few meals together, go to the beach as a group and it was a very pleasant experience. Everything is just going really well and almost too smoothly - where are all the obstacles I am used to facing? I don't know, but I spend very little time thinking about what could potentially go wrong, and focus on what it would be like when, not if, things go right. Oh, I also booked a flight to Texas for my cousin's wedding in about 5 weeks and am beyond excited to see everyone and to be there for her big day. One of the hardest part of 'my job' is being away from the people I love the most.
My poker results recently have been great, and the WSOP went as well as possible for a day-2 bust out. I am proud of the way I played and feel I only made one significant mistake. I ended up getting coolered out, running AK into AA all-in pre-flop and that was that. I am already looking forward to the series next summer and plan to play a lot of events for the first time ever. Online, I continue to crush the SNG's and my win-rate is staying right where I want it to. I am playing 45 and 180-man SNG's as well as a healthy amount of MTT's. Shortly after my $63,00 Sunday Million score, I finished 3rd in the $215 Bounty Builder for nearly $5,000. I am gearing up for a high-volume month in August and have accepted the fact that I simply can't accomplish/learn everything I want and need to while I am playing 40+ hours per week so am sacrificing some grind-time this month to experience growth and acquire a more advanced arsenal not only to player poker with, but to coach with and live life more efficiently in general with. Grinding has always been my priority, but that's sometimes a mistake due to the value of growth out-weighing the dollars gained by playing poker. It takes a light bulb turning on to see things more clearly sometimes, and I have had a bright light turn on inside my brain and consciousness and am more aware than ever of how important the on-going act of progressing is - especially in poker. If you aren't getting ahead, you are undoubtedly falling behind.
Ok the yawns are kicking in and I have to be up in 6.5 hours. I will wrap it up here with a couple recent pictures and update again after I finish creating 'the curriculum' project that I am working diligently on for the next several days (disregarding Sunday). As always, thanks for reading and for the continued support. I wish you all the same happiness and success I am currently experiencing!
The SNG grind since starting The Challenge
My roommate and our girlfriends, and their mom. Yes, we are dating sisters.
No caption needed, just bliss.
100% Vegan pizza we had in Vegas.
A well-stocked fridge in the Vegas hotel room, all vegan.
An awkward WSOP Selfie.
Live poker fuel - Yes, I brought this to the table with me.
